‘Ragging’ case: Odisha CM urges Andhra CM Naidu for special probe

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today urged his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu for probe into the death of Sambalpur boy Shreyash Kesharwani who was studying in an engineering college in Visakhapatnam.

The CM spoke to Naidu over phone requesting him to investigate the case by a special agency to bring out the truth behind the 16-year-old’s death.

Seeking his intervention, the parents of Shreyas met Naveen at State Secretariat here earlier in the day.

The CM took to Twitter and said his government will provide all support to get justice for them.

Spoke to Andhra Pradesh CM @ncbn over phone & requested for probe by an independent agency into death of Odia student Shreyas Kesharwani in a Visakhapatnam college in January this year. Earlier today, I met his parents & assured all support from Government to get justice for them

Earlier, Sambalpur Police had dispatched a fact-finding team to Visakhapatnam after locals in Shreyas’s village — Garposh in the western Odisha district — had launched a major agitation and stopped trains passing through the area.

The victim’s family alleged that the college administration did not act against previous ragging complaints. Shreyas was threatened by the perpetrators not to disclose the incident but his family claims to have recorded a video, where the victim has named four perpetrators.

On December 26, Shreyas had allegedly received repeated blows to the chest, for which he received treatment earlier at Rourkela and then in Bhubaneswar. He died on January 6.

The family members and locals alleged that the engineering student succumbed to his injuries due to ragging by fellow students in an engineering college there.